document.write( "<A HREF=/cgi-bin/jump-to-question.mpl?question=1205027>Question 1205027</A>: <I><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> Hi<BR>\n" );
document.write( "Mary and Gary had some stickers in the ratio of 5 to 3 respectively. After mary had given 1/3 of her stickers to Gary the new ratio of Gary to Mary became 7 to 5. If Gary had 32 more stickers than Mary what was the combined total.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "Thanks </SPAN>\n" );
document.write( "</I><HR><TABLE width=100%><TR><TD><B><A HREF=http://www.algebra.com/>Algebra.Com's</A> Answer #841629 by </B><A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=greenestamps><B>greenestamps(13200)</B></A><img src=\"/images/stars/stars-13.gif\" alt=\"\" >&nbsp;<A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=greenestamps><IMG SRC=http://www.algebra.com/images/aboutme-small.gif BORDER=0 alt=\"About Me\" VALIGN=MIDDLE></A>&nbsp;<IMG SRC=http://www.algebra.com/cgi-bin/show-face.mpl?user=greenestamps><BR>You can <A HREF=\"/cgi-bin/embed-solution.mpl?show=1&solution=841629\">put this solution on YOUR website!</A><BR><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> <br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "This would be a much more interesting problem, open to a large number of different solution methods, if it asked us to find the number of stickers each of them had at the beginning.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "However, since the problem only asked for the total number of stickers, there seems to be one path to the solution that is by far the easiest.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "After Mary gave 1/3 of her stickers to Gary, the ratio of Gary to Mary was 7:5 and Gary had 32 more stickers than Mary.  Given that ratio 7:5...<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "Let 7x = Gary's stickers<BR>\n" );
document.write( "Let 5x = Mary's stickers<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "(That is one standard way of setting up a problem when a ratio is given; whatever value x has, the ratio 7x:5x is always 7:5.)<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "Gary had 32 more stickers than Mary:<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "7x-5x=32<BR>\n" );
document.write( "2x=32<BR>\n" );
document.write( "x=16<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "And the total numer of stickers was 7x+5x = 12x = 192.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "ANSWER: 192<br><BR>\n" );
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